University of California Riverside proposes to establish a suicide prevention project entitled Suicide Outreach Services (SOS) that will target all students and focus on identified “high risk” student groups by mentoring, educating, screening and support services. The SOS program will embrace and align its activities with the objectives articulated by the Department of Health and Human Services Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. These objectives will be accomplished through proactive engagement of students, faculty, and staff in effective suicide prevention trainings and educational workshops, aimed at decreasing the stigma associated with seeking mental health services and increasing awareness, intervention, referral and help seeking. Additionally, the project will build capacity within the university to provide sustainable suicide prevention programs and services while strengthening collaborations with the UCR School of Medicine and Riverside Department of Mental Health. Additionally the activation of a campus-wide communications campaign of print and electronic media will promote the program, and bring about a comprehensive suicide prevention program that is currently lacking at our University.

Ultimately, the overall goal of SOS is to prevent suicide by promoting a collaborative university climate that honors and cherishes the lives of all our students, while encouraging and allowing them to seek much needed support if ever necessary. This project is designed to build essential capacity and infrastructure to support sustainable, expanded efforts to promote wellness and help-seeking for all students and outreach to vulnerable students.

The UCR SOS Program will specifically focus on our “at-risk” student populations of new graduate students, new international graduate students, students with diagnosed psychological disabilities, student veterans who are on active status or returning combat veterans, and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual (LGBT) students.

The Suicide Prevention Resource Center (SPRC) is supported by a grant (1 U79 SM062297) from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). No official endorsement by SAMHSA or DHHS for the information on this website is intended or should be inferred.